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French riot police officers protect themselves from fireworks thrown by May Day protesters in Nantes. /Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP
Thousands of workers and protesters gathered in cities across Europe on Sunday to celebrate May Day, taking to streets on the traditional workers' holiday to demand more rights from their governments.
Around the European continent and most of the world, May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day, a national holiday commemorating the labor movement and their past and present struggles.
Although originally a 2000-year old pagan festival marking the arrival of spring, May Day's meaning took on a radical new character in 1989 when the Second International, an organization of socialist and labor parties declared it a workers' holiday.
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The date was chosen to mark the 1886 Haymarket Affair in Chicago, when a multi-day strike for an eight-hour work day - starting on May 1 - culminating in several deadly riots between police and labor activists.
During one of the standoffs with the protesters, a bomb exploded among police ranks, killing seven officers. Eight protesters were later found guilty of conspiracy to murder, four of whom were hanged, despite minimal evidence and an international campaign to save their lives.
To honor the Chicago workers, the International Socialist Conference enshrined May Day as a labor holiday, giving birth to what is now International Workers' Day.
The date would later be institutionalized in the Soviet Union with former Eastern Bloc countries still host to large scale rallies marking their labor movements' achievements.
Today, May Day is still celebrated by organized labor with mass rallies and displays of worker solidarity. Here are some visual highlights from today's protests around the world.
In the French city of Nantes May Day protesters let off smoke bombs with a banner reading "retirement at 20."/Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP
Police riot officer surrounded by tear gas detain a May Day protester in Paris./Thomas Coex/AFP
A May Day demonstrator in Paris wears a mask reading "Freedom" at the Place de la Republique./Alain Jocard/AFP
Police stand guard as demonstrators protest to "Take back the night" ahead of May Day in Berlin, Germany./Lisi Niesner/Germany
People take part in the feminist protest "Take back the night" ahead of May Day in Berlin./Christian Mang/Reuters
A sign reading "We can no longer afford the rich" is seen while people ride their bicycles during a May Day demonstration in Berlin./Christian Mang/Reuters
Left-wing Greek Cypriots rally to mark May Day by the Paphos Gate near the UN-controlled buffer zone in Nicosia, Cyprus./Yiannis Kourtoglou /Reuters
Police officers detain a protester who attempted to defy a ban and march on Taksim Square to celebrate May Day in Istanbul, Turkey./Kemal Aslan/Reuters
Members and supporters of the Hungarian communist party, the Party of Workers, march in Budapest./Attila Kisbenedek/AFP
A supporter of the Russian Communist Party stands next to a portrait of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in Moscow, Russia./Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
A police officer stands guard as participants march during a May Day rally in Omsk, Russia, where the pro-war "Z" symbol was prominent./Alexey Malgavko/Reuters
Workers from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions chant slogans during a May Day rally in Seoul, Korea./Heo Ran/Reuters
Activists and supporters of People's Liberation Front party take part in a May Day rally in Colombo, Sri Lanka./AFP
Cuba's former President Raul Castro(R) and President and First Secretary of the Communist Party Miguel Diaz-Canel watch a May Day rally in Havana, Cuba./Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters
Cubans march towards Havana's Revolution Square to mark the international day of the workers./Adalberto Roque/AFP
More focused on May Day's traditional routes, Austrian farmers erect a maypole in Windischgarsten, a long-standing tradition of the Austrian countryside celebrating the beginning of spring./Lisa Leutner/Reuters
